No: 115, 22 April 2018, Press Release Regarding 2017 Human Rights Report Of The Us Department Of State

Republic Of Turkey Ministry Of Foreign Affairs 22.04.2018

Turkey resolutely maintains its commitment to the principles of democracy,
human rights and the rule of law while intensively struggling against
diverse and severe terrorist threats.

The U.S. Department of State's 2017 Human Rights report on Turkey is one of
the routine documents being prepared annually on more than 190 countries to
be submitted to the US Congress. The parts of latest report regarding
Turkey, as released on 20 April 2018, is again full of false portrayals,
unacceptable accusations and allegations.

The necessary and proportionate measures taken within the context of our
rightful and legitimate struggle against terrorist organizations such as
DAESH, PKK-YPG, FETÖ and DHKP-C are once again presented in a biased manner
which does not reflect realities.

In particular, our fight against the radical terrorist organization FETÖ,
which has tried to infiltrate into state institutions in order to capture
the Turkish state from within, and ultimately staged a bloody coup attempt
has been ignored.

It is not a coincidence that the said report, which repeats the narratives
of terrorist affiliated groups and recklessly misrepresents the fight
against terrorism as "internal conflict", was prepared by a country that
hosts the ringleader of FETÖ.

It is expected that countries that genuinely adhere to fundamental rights
and freedoms should act responsibly on such an important subject of human
rights which must be kept away from politicization. We are deeply saddened
that the said report has been drafted in a way inconsistent with this
responsibility by presenting the allegations and accusations of terrorist
affiliated organizations as reality.

On this occasion, it has been also confirmed that Turkey’s decision to
cease its previous cooperation in the preparation of the said report was
right as its credibility was tarnished being far from meeting impartiality
and objectivity criterias.

Furthermore, we recommend the countries which raise unfair allegations
against Turkey firstly to put an end to the systematic violations of human
rights against their own citizens.

As we have always been reiterating , while we resolutely continue to fight
against terrorism which is a human rights violation per se, we will
continue to abide by our international obligations and we will work
uninterruptedly for further strengthening the fundamental rights and
freedoms.